That inevitably leads to an overreaction. One is that Lance-gate is clinching proof we should just allow PEDs. Another group says it proves cycling should be banned from the Olympics until it cleans up its act.

So do we lighten up or crack down?

No and no.

Neither idea would solve the problem, primarily because the problem cannot be solved. People will never stop trying to cheat.

The detection systems are similar to what Churchill said about democracy. It’s the worst form of government except for all others that have been tried.

As flawed as the system is, the alternatives are worse—or with the Olympics ban, hypocritically stupid.

That idea was floated Tuesday by IOC member Dick Pound, the former head of the World Anti-Doping Agency. Since the International Cycling Union obviously can’t get drugs under control, maybe the Olympics should kick bikes to the curb.

“When you think you’re ready to come on back, we’ll see whether it would be a good idea to put you back on the program,” Pound told Reuters.

Sure, maybe three people in America would miss Olympic cycling. But as a matter of principle, the IOC would have to apply the same standard to every sport.

I realize the IOC has no principles, but merely for the sake of argument … would the Olympics kill a cash cow like track and field?

The sport was overrun by Ben Johnson freakazoids, and the IOC never dreamed of kicking it out. It’s cleaned up some, but of 14 Olympians caught using banned substances at the London games, eight were from track and field.

Pound would have been pounding his fist then, but he was too busy applauding Usain Bolt and the overnight TV ratings. Selective indignation is always on the Olympic program. Does Pound really believe a cycling ban would keep the next Armstrong from sticking a syringe in his derriere?

We’ve found out what would keep that from happening—nothing.

That’s why there’s an eternal push to embrace PEDs. According to that argument, the whole point is to have a level playing field. Since we can’t level it by banning PEDs, level it by allowing them.

Simply put, there would be no such thing as cheaters because there would no such thing as cheating.

Putting the ethical implications aside, this solution would only cause more problems. People cheat to gain an advantage. If you legalized steroids, HGH, etc., athletes would just go for whatever else is out there.

If you allowed “whatever else,” it would ratchet the arms race into an all-out death race. Some chemist in a state-sponsored Chinese lab will come up with a PED that will quickly turn human organs to radioactive mush.

If you can watch a baseball player hit 90 home runs knowing he’ll be dead in three years, enjoy your popcorn. But if you’re comfortable with grown men taking PEDS, where do you draw the line on what defines a grown man?

Eighteen year olds?

Kids go off to college and trainers start giving them Anadrol for breakfast. I’d like to see the parent who’ll sign on for that. The 'roid-raged food fights in the cafeteria might be fun, but team-wide renal failure would not.

So what’s an exasperated society to do?

First, put aside the notion that the drug war is a hopeless failure. If it were, we wouldn’t be having this discussion. We wouldn’t know about Mark McGwire or Barry Bonds or Melky Cabrera.

We wouldn’t know about New England tight end Jermaine Cunningham or junior welterweight champ Lamont Peterson or Marion Jones or Justin Gatlin or North Korea’s women’s World Cup team.

Thousands of cheats have been caught. And for every one of them, countless more didn’t take PEDs because they feared getting caught. If you don’t think so, check how runs, slugging percentage and ERA have plummeted since Major League Baseball began testing in 2005.

None of this means the detection systems are great. They need better funding, research, enforcement and application. But even with a perfect system, somebody would try to beat it.

If you have the perfect solution, please forward it to the IOC, MLB, the NFL, etc., etc., etc. Until then, resist the half-baked ideas that pop up when a superstar gets caught.

Yes, the PED war can be exasperating. But if you think the whole system stinks and should be junked, remember who couldn’t agree with you more.